According to iSuppli that bill of materials comes to $174.15. The breakdown is as follows (click image to see larger version):

That total is just for the materials and does not take into account the cost of actually manufacturing and shipping the device. There’s also all the man hours spent designing the device, developing Android, and marketing the smartphone. All of which is sure to add a significant amount to each unit if such work could ever be truly quantified.

If the Nexus One sells well then the biggest winner in this apart from Google looks to be Qualcomm. The combined cost of the Snapdragon chip, Power Management IC, and RF Transistor, means the company walks away with $35.50 on every Nexus One sale. Samsung arguably gets more from memory and display components, but they are classed as separate companies within the group.

iSuppli also notes that the Nexus One is the first unibody design it has seen since the iPhone. The unibody makes for a stronger phone meaning the Nexus One should survive a few falls intact.

The bill of materials comes in at just under the subsidized price T-Mobile offer it at. As for the unsubsidized price Google is applying a $355.85 mark up, but as stated above, that price does not take into account manufacturing, distribution, and marketing costs. Still, it’s quite a mark up.

iSuppli’s comments suggest Google and HTC have created a very hard-wearing device with enough memory to make it lightning fast. It is a true competitor to the iPhone and even follows some of the design patterns Apple employs such as the unibody. It may fall short in touchscreen accuracy, however.

Whether the Nexus One can rival the iPhone’s popularity has yet to be seen, but I suspect it may take a few generations of Nexus releases to close the gap and relies on a lot of support from developers creating apps too.